Initiative
Initiative represents how quick you are to ready yourself for combat and determines your turn order.
- Base initiative roll is 1d20.
- Combatants take turns in descending order of their initiative rolls.
- When combatants are already aware and ready for each other before the start of combat, everyone involved adds their Dexterity modifier to their result.
- When one side is hiding to ambush the other party, the hiding combatants roll Stealth checks as their initiative while the unaware combatants roll Perception checks as their initiative.
- Until a combatant makes their first turn, they are off-guard and cannot make any reactions.
Attack Roll
An attack roll represents your attempt to strike a target. Making an attack roll requires you to roll 1d20 and add your martial bonus and your attack attribute modifier. Other modifier may apply. See the Attack action further below for what uses you can perform with an attack roll.
Martial Bonus
Martial bonus (MB) is a measure of your basic combat ability.
Attack Attribute Modifier
Attack rolls require you to add the modifier of one attribute. The attribute is determined by what type of attack you are making. See Attack action further below to know which attribute each type of attack roll uses.
Defence Value
Defence value (DV) is a measure of your ability to defend yourself and avoid getting injured.
- You will be able to add one attribute modifier to your DV; this is your defence modifier. By default, you will use your Dexterity as your defence modifier.
- Add your armor to your DV.
- Touch DV does not include your armor bonuses. Attacks target your touch DV when they have effects that only require to touch you, and ignore the presence of armor and shields.
- Off-Guarded DV does not include your Dexterity bonus (if you have any), but still includes your Dexterity penalty (if you have any). Attacks target your off-guarded DV when you are unable to react against the attack, such as being caught unaware or unable to dodge.
Stamina and Exhaustion
Stamina is a pool of points that represent how long your character can remain conscious and perform strenuous activities.
- Stamina pool can be increased by training.
- You gain a modifier to your Stamina pool equal to your current Constitution modifier times your level.
- Your maximum Stamina pool can never go below 1.
- When your current Stamina points reach 0 or below, you become 'exhausted' and must now track your Exhaustion pool.
- Certain actions will cost Stamina points to perform.
- Certain effects inflict Stamina damage which will reduce your current Stamina points.
- Creatures with no Constitution modifier do not have a Stamina pool. They cannot use actions that use Stamina, and are immune to effects that target Stamina.
Exhausted is a condition when your current Stamina reaches 0. See "Exhausted" under Conditions.
When you are unconscious, you are helpless. When you receive an effect that inflicts an injury or when you take bleed damage, you must make a Constitution saving throw.
- The DC is equal to the sum of the value of all of your current injuries plus your current bleed damage.
- If you succeed at the save, nothing happens.
- If you critically save, remove any bleed damage you might have, recover all of your exhaustion points, and regain consciousness with 1 stamina.
- If you fail the save, you die.
- Creatures with no Constitution modifier do not fall unconscious. They are destroyed once they receive a specific number of injuries.
Injuries
Damage inflicts injuries. Injuries damage body parts, each with their own effect.
- When your attack roll is higher than your target's DV, select a body part on your target. You inflict a minor injury on that part.
- Every degree of success you gain allows you to target a body one severity higher. From minor to major, to severe, to deadly, to fatal.
- You can choose to target a lower severity body part.
- You can use each degree of success that were not spent to increase the severity to add another injury to the targeted body part.
- If left untreated, an injured body part's condition risks worsening. Every day that an injury goes untreated, make a DC 20 Constitution check to not have it worsen. If you fail, add another injury to the injured body part.
- Damaged body parts can be healed mundanely over time:
- Each injury must first be treated with a Heal check. The DC starts at 15 for minor injuries, and increases by 5 for each severity higher.
- After being treated, the injury takes one week per severity level to fully recover. Until then, the injury's effect remains active.
- Some magical spells and techniques can instantly heal damaged body parts.
- Destroyed body parts cannot be healed mundanely. Some magical spells and techniques can regrow destroyed body parts. Some items can be used as prosthetics to replace destroyed body parts.
Strain
Successfully hitting an opponent increases their strain by 1. Every degree of success increases the strain by 1. See "Strain" under Conditions.
Minor Injuries
Ear
1st injury: +1 disadvantage on Perception checks with an audio component.
2nd injury: destroyed or severed.
When all ears have at least 1 injury, the creature is permanently deafened until at least one ear is healed.
Nose
1st injury: +1 disadvantage on Perception and Survival checks with a scent component.
When all noses have at least 1 injury, the creature loses the scent ability.
Tail
1st injury: Your tail's slap natural attack is disabled. Your tail no longer provides an advantage to Acrobatics checks.
2nd injury: destroyed or severed.
Wing
1st injury: +1 disadvantage on Fly checks, fly speed is reduced by 1 size category. A wing attack attached to the injured wing is also disabled.
2nd injury: destroyed or severed.
You can no longer fly when you have only 1 uninjured wing left. You also fall when this happens if you are currently flying.
Major Injuries
Eye
1st injury: +1 disadvantage on attack rolls and on Perception checks with a visual component.
2nd injury: destroyed or severed.
When all eyes have at least 1 injury, the creature is permanently blinded and gaze attacks are disabled until at least one eye is healed.
Hand
A pincer counts as a hand body part.
1st injury: +1 disadvantage on checks for Athletics, craft skills, Musical Instrument, and Thievery.
2nd injury: The hand drops any item it was holding, cannot be used for somatic casting, and cannot activate any use-activated abilities of any items worn on that hand. Your claw or pincer natural attack with that hand is disabled.
3rd injury: destroyed or severed.
Foot
A hoof or talon counts as a foot body part.
1st injury: +1 disadvantage on Acrobatics and Athletics checks, and the action to stand up is increased by 1 AP.
2nd injury: Your base, burrow, and climb speeds are reduced by 5 feet, and your claw, hoof, or talon natural attack used by that foot is disabled.
3rd injury: destroyed or severed.
When all feet have at least 1 injury, you fall prone and cannot stand up.
Horn
1st injury: Your gore natural attack attached to that horn is disabled.
2nd injury: destroyed or severed.
Mouth
1st injury: You cannot speak, use abilities or spells that require a vocal component, or use the Oratory skill.
2nd injury: You cannot eat or drink with that mouth. Your bite attack with that mouth is disabled.
3rd injury: destroyed or severed.
Severe
Arm
A tentacle also counts as an arm body part if it is used to hold and manipulate objects.
1st injury: +2 disadvantage on checks for Acrobatics, Athletics, craft skills, Musical Instrument, and Thievery.
2nd injury: The arm drops any item it was holding, cannot ready a shield, cannot be used for somatic casting, and cannot activate any use-activated abilities of any items worn on that arm and its hand. Your claw, pincer, or tentacle natural attack with that arm is disabled.
3rd injury: destroyed or severed.
Leg
A tentacled also counts as a leg body part if it used for locomotion.
1st injury: +2 disadvantage on Acrobatics and Athletics checks, and the action to stand up is increased by 2 AP.
2nd injury: Your base, burrow, and climb speeds are reduced by 10 feet, and your claw, hoof, talon, or tentacle natural attack used by that leg is disabled.
3rd injury: destroyed or severed.
When all legs have at least 1 injury, you fall prone and cannot stand up.
Deadly Injuries
Head
1st injury: You receive a concussion and incur a +1 disadvantage on all d20 rolls until it is healed. After every hour of rest, you can make a DC 25 Constitution check to heal the injury.
2nd injury: You become stunned for 1 round unless you make a DC 25 Constitution check. If you succeed, you only become dazed for 1 round. Whether or not you succeed, you become permanently confused afterwards until the injury is healed.
3rd injury: You are knocked unconscious and fall prone. If you succeed a DC 30 Constitution check, you make DC 30 Constitution checks at the start of your turn every following round to wake up. If you failed, you remain unconscious and in a coma until the injury is healed.
4th injury: destroyed or severed.
If a creature has multiple heads, each injury effect only applies to the individual head. When more than half of the creature's heads have the same number of injuries, then that injury effect applies to the whole creature.
When all heads are destroyed, the creature dies unless otherwise noted.
Fatal Injuries
Heart
You need to succeed a Lore check on the creature you meet for the first time to identify where the heart is located in order to target it. The DC is 15 + the creature's base level.
1st injury: Make a DC 25 Constitution check or be stunned for 1 round. Even if you succeed, you are sickened until the injury is healed.
2nd injury: destroyed.
When all hearts are destroyed, the creature dies unless otherwise noted.
DESIGN NOTES: attackers always aim to kill, disable, or specifically hamper their opponent; if a body part does not inflict a condition or effect that immediately benefits the attacker in combat for any circumstances, then there is no point in targeting it, and thus no point in listing.
DESIGN NOTES: When assigning a severity of a body part, consider the following:
- how hard is it to hit the part in relation to the body as a whole?
- how harmful is the effect of the damaged part?
- is this body part overlapped by a larger one?
Critical Hits and Misses
A natural 20 on an attack roll is a critical hit. If the attack roll result is still less than the target's DV, the attack deals a minor injury instead of being unsuccessful. Otherwise, the critical hit adds another degree and applies the weapon's critical effect (see Weapons).
Some weapons have an increased critical range. A natural roll on that number in that range threatens a critical hit, but does not automatically hit if the d20 does not land on a 20. Natural rolls in the rest of the critical range only threaten if the result is a successful hit.
A natural 1 on an attack roll is a critical miss, and decreases the severity of the inflicted injury by one step. If the injury would have been a minor one, then no injury is inflicted. If the attack roll result is less than the target's DV, then the attacker loses their grip on their weapon and drops it. If the attack was made with a natural weapon, the attacker cannot use that natural attack until the end of their next turn.
Maneuvers
Skills that are used for maneuvers require:
- the target opponent is within reach
- roll the skill check and add your martial bonus to the result
- if the result is equal or greater than the target's DV, the maneuver is a success
- maneuvers provoke from the target if you are untrained with the skill
Size Differences
- Attacking a creature one size category larger than you grants you a +1 size bonus on melee attack rolls except for combat maneuvers. Double the bonus for every size category larger the target is compared to you.
- Conversely, attack a creature one size category smaller than you incurs a -1 penalty on melee attack rolls excepf ro combat maneuvers. Double the penalty for every size category smaller the target is compared to you.
- When you inflict an injury against a creature smaller than you, you gain a bonus degree of success for each size category smaller the target is.
- When you inflict an injury against a creature larger than you, reduce your degrees of success for each size category larger the target is, all the way down to inflicting no injury at all.
- You gain a +1 size bonus on maneuver attack rolls against a target one size category smaller than you, and a -1 penalty against a target one size category larger than you. Double the bonus and penalty for every size category step away from your size.
Positioning
Cover
An enemy combatant incurs +1 disadvantage on attack rolls against you when you have cover between the both of you.
Total Cover
An enemy combatant incurs +2 disadvantage on attack rolls against you when you have total cover between the both of you.
Flanking
When you and an ally are adjacent to the same enemy on opposing sides or corners and you are both threatening, you both gain +1 advantage on melee attack rolls against that enemy.
Prone
You gain +1 advantage on melee attacks against a proned opponent.
You gain +1 disadvantage on ranged attacks against a proned opponent.
When you are prone:
- You incur +1 disadvantage on melee attacks against non-prone opponents.
- You incur +1 disadvantage on attack rolls to throw a weapon.
- You cannot use a bow when proned.
- You gain +1 advantage on ranged attacks made with a crossbow or firearm.
Rounds and Actions
Combat is divided into rounds lasting 6 seconds.
During each round, each participant has a turn.
During their turn, a participant has 3 action points (AP) and one reaction.
- Free action: 0 AP, but only once per turn
- Simple action: 1 AP
- Standard action: 2 AP
- Full action: 3 AP
- Reaction: usable only when triggered by specific circumstances
- Full-round action: all AP and reactions for that turn until the start of the next turn.
DESIGN NOTE: all full-round actions should have bonus or scaling effects if the participant has more than 3 AP during their turn (such as being under the effect of haste).
Actions
Simple Actions (1 AP)
Simple actions require you to spend 1 AP.
Attack
All forms of attack actions require an attack roll.
Iterative Attacks
Performing an attack action after the first during your turn incurs +1 disadvantage on your attack roll for each previous attack action you performed during your turn.
Maneuver
Maneuvers are a type of attack that do not inflict injuries to your target, but instead apply a specific effect. To perform a maneuver, make an attack roll and add the modifier specified by the type of maneuver.
Disarm: Acrobatics
Drag: Athletics
Grapple: Athletics
Overrun: Athletics
Reposition: Acrobatics
Shove: Athletics
Steal: Thievery
Sunder: Strength
Trick: Thievery
Trip: Acrobatics
Melee
Your target must be within your melee reach for you to make a melee attack against them. Use either your Strength or your Dexterity as your attack attribute.
Cleave
After landing a successful melee attack on your opponent, you may spend 1 stamina as a free action to continue your attack into another opponent that is adjacent to the first and within your reach. Doing so opens up your defences, and melee attacks against gain +1 advantage until the start of your next turn.
Lunge
You may spend 1 stamina as a free action to increase your next melee attack to increase your reach by 5 feet. Doing so opens up your defences, and melee attacks against you gain +1 advantage until the start of your next turn.
Multiweapon
When you wield more than one melee weapon, you can spend a simple action to attack with each weapon with a +1 disadvantage on each attack roll.
Power Attack
As a free action as part of a melee attack, you can spend an amount of stamina up to your martial bonus to gain a +2 bonus to your attack roll for each stamina spent. You must make this decision before you make your attack roll.
Reckless Attack
As a free action as part of a melee attack, you can increase a successful degree to the injury you inflict if you successfully hit your target. For each degree, you must spend 1 stamina and incur +1 disadvantage on your attack roll. You must make this decision before you make your attack roll.
Ranged
You incur a number of disadvantages on your ranged attack roll equal to the distance of your target from you divided by your attack's range increment. Use either your Dexterity or Wisdom as your attack attribute.
When making a ranged attack at an enemy engaged in melee with an ally, you incur a +1 disadvantage on your ranged attack roll as you try not to hit your ally, unless your target is two or more size categories larger or is 10 or more feet away from any ally.
Each creature of the same size as your target that is standing in the path of your projectile between you and your target provides a cumulative +2 bonus to your target's DV. that bonus increases by 2 for every size category larger.
Deadly Aim
As a free action as part of a ranged attack, you can spend an amount of stamina up to your martial bonus to gain a +2 bonus to your attack roll for each stamina spent. You must make this decision before you make your attack roll.
Rapid Shot
If you have a ranged weapon that you can reload as a free action or are able to draw thrown weapons as a free action, you can perform multiple ranged attacks as a simple action with a +1 disadvantage on each attack roll for each attack beyond the first. You must make this decision before you make your attack.
Throw
You can throw an object at a target as a ranged attack. You may use Strength as your attack attribute instead of those normally used for ranged attacks. By default, thrown objects have a range increment of 10 feet, but weapon with the Thrown trait may have longer increments. For every +1 Strength bonus, increase your thrown object's range increment by 5 feet.
Objects that hit the target land in the same square as the target; objects that deal bludgeoning damage fall onto the ground while those that deal piercing or slashing damage will stick into the target.
When you miss your target, roll 1d8. Starting from the square adjacent to the target that is nearest towards you and going clockwise, count the squares around the target to your roll's result to dtermine a direction away from the target. From that square, count a number of squares away from the target in that direction equal to the nubmer of range increments between you and your target. Your object lands in that final square unless an obstacle blocks its path.
Defend
You focus on defending yourself. Add a dodge bonus equal to your martial bonus to your DV that lasts until the start of your next turn. You cannot use the Attack action for the rest of your turn.
Ready Shield
When you wield a shield, you can spend a simple action to grant your shield's bonus to your DV until the start of your next turn. Unless otherwise stated, you cannot use your shield for any other action until the start of your next turn.
Standard Actions (2 AP)
Standard actions require you to spend 2 AP.
Charge
Greater Actions (3 AP)
Greater actions require you to spend 3 AP.
Round Actions
Round actions start at the start of your turn, and end only at the start of your next turn. You must spend all 3 AP and cannot use any reactions until the action has ended. If you have more than 3 AP during your turn, your extra AP often grants additional bonuses.
Free Actions (0 AP)
Free actions do not cost AP. You can only perform free actions during your turn, but theoretically, you can take as many free actions as you want, up to what the GM judges can fit inside 6 seconds.
Reactions
Reactions do not cost AP, but can only be performed in response to specific triggers.
You have 1 reaction plus a number of extra reactions equal to either your Strength bonus or Dexterity bonus (whichever is higher, if any).
Reactions occur after their trigger starts, but before the trigger's effects are resolved.
You can perform only one reaction against a single trigger.
Parry
After your opponent confirms their melee attack roll against you, you may spend 1 Stamina to attempt to parry the attack by making an attack roll of your own with all of your usual modifiers. If your result is higher than your opponent's, their attack is reduced by 1 degree; if that results in your opponent having less than 0 degrees of success, the attack is completely deflected. For every degree of success your parry attack roll has over your opponent's attack roll result, reduce their attack is reduced by another degree.
Reactive Attack
You can spend a reaction to perform an attack action against an opponent that commits an action that provokes you.